Team Penske
When you talk about racing, at some point you have to talk about Roger Penske. Roger was a racer who had to decide between being a driver or a businessman. He correctly chose to be a businessman and became a tycoon who now has multiple championship winning race teams in open wheel, stock car and sports cars.
While we were in Mooresville NC attending the Trump Golf Course Concours d’Elegance we also had the opportunity to take a behind the scenes tour of the Penske Racing Headquarter and Race Shop. The general public has no access to the race shop other than from the Fan Walk on the second level that runs the length of the shop. This overview of the facility is very impressive and provides a good view of the crews building the cars for the next race. If you are in the area it is a must due tour for any race fan.
Race Shop Tour
Our tour had a very special tour guide who took us down on the Race Shop floor and walked us all around the facility. This complex is not limited to just the NASCAR Teams but is also home to the Penske Xfinity Teams, IMSA sports car and Indy Car Teams. Most of our tour focused on the NASCAR side of things since it represents the greatest portion of the Penske Racing operations. IMSA and Indy Car had already completed their race seasons when we toured. These race teams were already building and testing their newest go fast stuff for 2019 and thus our access to these two shops was very limited.
I have included photos here that were all taken from the Fan Walk but from these photo you can easily see the size of the gigantic race shop and get an overview of the areas we toured up close.
The Gift Shop
When you visit the Penske Race Headquarters you will enter through the Gift Shop. This area is a must see even if you couldn’t visit the Fan Walk. There is a very impressive and interesting display of trophies. The merchandise is beyond tempting. We fell in love with a vintage style Rick Mears (4 time Indy winner) race jacket done in white with red and blue stripes. We both walked out with one!
The Gift Shop also included a historic race and interviews video and tribute displays to notable Penske drivers and achievement.
